"IT'S A FREE COUNTRY!"

I must preface this story with the disclaimer that we've been studying the Constitution.

One of my students yesterday was having a particularly difficult time letting go of using his scissors. He had earned some drawing time and was quietly working, when he got the notion that his creation would not be perfect without getting scissors involved. The rest of the class was in the middle of watching student council campaign speeches so the scissors would have probably pushed them over the edge (7 year olds can only ignore SO MUCH! It's not very fair that they have to "suffer" through 22 5th grade speeches while he's drawing away!)

I went over and took his scissors away from him and put them on my desk.

He got up and took them off my desk.

I went over and picked them up to hold them.

He went to my desk to get my scissors.

I went over and removed that option.

He went to the back of the room to get a pair from the "lost and found" bucket, saw me coming towards him and decided on a green crayon instead.

During clean up I saw him hiding behind a desk using someone else's scissors in a last ditch effort. At this point I explained that he would need to leave his project with me until Monday since it had been so difficult following directions.

Needless to say this didn't go very well. Using my magical teaching powers I managed to get all the other kids packed and ready to go, and we all started walking towards the parent-pickup line. My friend had not given up the good fight, and along the way he turned to me and shouted "You can't keep my drawing! This is a free country! I can do what I want! I'm an American!"

To which I replied:

"You are correct! You are an American, and you have the right to free speech. Being an American means that sometimes you have to follow rules, but you can be angry about it!"

In a way, I was very proud. It takes a very high level of learning to use the Constitution to your advantage :)